Bohack’s?

[2459 Pitkin Avenue, Brownsville, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

I like the Bohack lettering. Okay, I love the Bohack lettering.

Wikipedia has the goods on the grocer’s ninety-year history in New York (which included an appearance in The Odd Couple and a namecheck in The Sopranos). The 1940 Brooklyn telephone directory listed eighty-two “Groceries&Meats” Bohacks in Brooklyn, along with three “Gas Stations & Auto Accessories Stores.” This store wasn’t yet listed. There were many more Bohacks locations in Queens, the chain’s place of origin: 140 G&M, seven GS&AAS. Newspaper advertisements show this store on the scene by May 1941. I also like the displays of canned goods, evidence, I think, of considerable trust in the populace. I like the prices too: three cans of Campbell’s Tomato Rice for 20¢. There are other details to notice if you click for large.

And I like the presence of a butcher shop and fish market right next to the grocery store. Room for all, at least for a while. And for two barbers, two storefronts apart. Today the street is all housing.

Did Brooklynites call their Bohack “Bohack’s?” Yes, they did.

[The Brooklyn Eagle, June 23, 1949.]

Related posts
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)